Six out of Seven ain't bad
by MariskaMania
Summary: The person Olivia is dating, isn't the person she's dreaming about... 5 victims so far, four bodies, no evidence, and no witnesses. Now what? The whole SVU team is dragged into maze of games trying to find the elusive killer that rapes & mutilates his victims. It's a numbers game, but only he has the rule book.
1. One Call

**A/N: I don't own SVU or the characters created by Dick Wolf. All rights to him :) **

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><p><em>As I floated around the dance floor with a dress that hugged me in all the right places, the hand I was holding was soft, yet strong. I knew I was safe, and the smile on my face couldn't begin to explain how happy I was. As a blaring fog horn sounded loudly, the hand I was holding let go. Fog filled the dance floor I now stood alone on. <em>

I reached over and hit my alarm clock, it flashed '**6:00**' at me over and over again until I gave it a harder smack knocking it off the bedside table. I didn't need to be reminded of a new day, Cragen would be chewing on my ass about the Pen Pal case that I still hadn't made any progress with. I showered and poured myself a large mug of coffee. I was dressed and out the door by seven A.M.

As the elevator doors opened, I could hear Cragen and by the sounds of it, he wasn't in a good mood. I walked into the one – six with purpose, today I was going to make headway. Plus, it crossed my mind Cragen wouldn't talk to me if I looked like I had some sort of clue as to what I was doing. The truth was I didn't know what I was doing, I had hit a massive, reenforced brick wall.

"Olivia, tell me what you've got." Cragen said coming over to my desk, he perched on the edge of it.

I felt like a naughty school girl who hadn't done her homework. I could feel time ticking away, but my mouth wasn't moving. "I'm going over all the witness statements, I've asked Nick to take a look at them to see if anything I might have missed."

"How's Amanda doing?"

"Fine. She's a natural." Rollins had made a wrong turn somewhere between sane and crazy when she shot an unarmed perp. So I'm baby sitting until Cragen thinks she's ready to go out on her own again. I don't mind partnering up, but I'm not a fan of spying on our own. Neither of us were very happy about it.

"Just be straight with me, does she get too personal or not? If you say no, she's free to go back to her cases."

"She's a good cop. I think she's learnt her lesson, if that's what you need to hear." I spoke honestly, "Take me off baby sitting duties, all the time she thinks I'm spying on her, and I feel like I'm spying on her, neither one of us are completely comfortable with it. I need her head in this case, and mine."

Cragen nodded, "O.K, you can tell her the good news." he turned to walk away, then had a change of heart, "Oh and Olivia, get me a suspect by the end of the day."

"I'm on it." I said.

I was surprised Rollins wasn't in yet. She'd been spending a lot of time at work trying to prove herself to Cragen again, but all she managed to do was work herself into a hole, and finally I had the hand she needed to get out of it. I asked Nick if he'd seen Amanda, the answer lead me to the crib where the blonde was sound asleep.

"Amanda." I said touching her arm. She turned over and opened her eyes. "I've got good news for you. You're no longer under my watchful eye." I joked.

Amanda shot up in the bed, "Are you serious?" she looked relieved more than happy. She very much appeared to hate disappointing people.

"You're still on the Pen Pal case with me, but first I want you to go home and have a shower and some real food." she looked like she was going to protest so before she had the chance I stopped her, "Nick's taking a look at the statements, I'm going to go over everything with Warner again. So go home."

Amanda got up, flattened her hair and straightened her shirt. "Thanks."

I headed back downstairs, Amanda was leaving and Nick had the witness statements on his desk with one in his hand. Everything was moving forward, apart from me. I went to the morgue to find Melinda in the middle of a '_Y_' incision. I still struggled to cope with the smell of decomp in the mornings.

"Olivia, what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need your help. I need to go over the Pen Pal murders with you."

Melinda stopped the autopsy, "What do you need?"

I laid out a photo of Poppy Waterman, with the letter from the Pen Pal rapist. I did this for four of the girls.

"We have four bodies and five letters, and one survivor. There were traces of Rohypnol in all the victim's, but not enough to render any of them unconscious."

"Maybe your guy isn't strong enough to over power these women without the drug, but he wants them awake."

"I thought about that this morning. I'm thinking he can't for whatever reason over power a woman, so he drugs them enough so they're in a drunken state, or dream like state. In his mind, because he's raping the women, he's still got the power. But then if you wanted power, surely using a date rape drug would make you feel worse."

"Power is power." Melinda said shrugging her shoulders. "He mutilates his victims before he kills them. He's angry, he destroys these women."

"He might have mom issues." I said looking at the photo of our second victim, Natalie Stokes. "Natalie survived. I'm meeting with her later today to go over what she remembers, I'm hoping she remembers something that will break this case open."

"That bad huh?"

"I've got nothing. I have four bodies that haven't been able to tell us anything other than they were drugged, raped and killed. I've got witness statements saying they saw a male about five foot nine running away from the scene, and trace evidence that is so microscopic I doubt anything will come back from it."

"Read me the first note." Melinda said not allowing me to carry on with the pity party.

"This is the note delivered to us after Poppy Waterman was brought in.

'_ Catch me if you can Detectives. - PP'_

It looked like we were dealing with someone who wanted to play games. But then we got Natalie's letter." I moved on to Natalie's photos, "'_And then one got away.- PP' _He's calm about the fact one of his victims lived."

Melinda picked up the third note, "'_Stop hiding my toy! I will have her, and we will play until the night is over. Detectives, you're starting to piss me off now. I tried to play nice, I gave you easy clues but you were very ungrateful. Now we play properly.- PP' _Sophia Jennings was his replacement for Natalie."

"I think all these girls are." I said shaking my head, "The fourth note says, '_Detective Benson, I can't wait to play with you.- PP'_" I stared at the note, it still made my blood run cold.

"Chloe Price is our forth victim and then our fifth victim, Sharon Mannings." I took the note that came with Sharon and read it out loud. "'_Olivia, you're not playing fair. You're making these too easy for me. I'm going to step things up a pace. Expect bitch number six, but be quick, because seven is my last.- PP_'

That's pretty self explanatory." I groaned, "I don't know how much time I have before we find our sixth victim. She could already be waiting to be found for all I know. No one has seen anything or heard anything." I ran my fingers through my hair feeling frustrated, I was back at square one again, only this was worse because I was at square one with five victims, four bodies, no evidence, and no witnesses. I looked at Melinda who was sat at her desk staring at an email, admittedly I was a little annoyed about only having half her attention when I needed it all.

"Do you have security footage?"

"It's on it's way, Fin and Munch have been canvasing around all our body dump locations. No one's talking, but it's a general lack of information. No one's seen this guy."

"The girls were so mutilated I couldn't tell you a lot, but I might have some good news for you."

"Go on." I urged feeling desperation reach an all time high.

"We managed to photograph a bite mark, it's only a tissue bruise impression because the skin was too badly destroyed to see it."

"What does this mean?" I asked feeling like I could explode.

"It means if you get a suspect, we have enough to make a match." Melinda scrolled down on the email showing an image of purple, top teeth bruises.

"Are you sure we can use this in court? If we make a match?" I asked.

"Once the image is in my hands and I can identify the teeth, we will be able to make a positive match. But explaining it in court could lead to Alex being crushed."

I looked blankly at Melinda feeling the double edged sword pierce my back. "So what you're saying is we could make a match to our suspect, but the explanation of it all will fall on deaf ears in court." Melinda nodded, the sword twisted in my back slicing through to my stomach.

"If I were to sit and explain how I identify the teeth, the defence can rip tear holes in it and we could lose the jury. Two months ago I testified for Fin with this, more than what we have here and Kevin Sacks caused so much reasonable doubt because of me, saying I could have made a mistake. Then he showed the jury a manipulation of the same teeth showing different results to mine. We lost because of my testimony. I'm not prepared to let that happen again."

"I understand." I said taking in what Melinda had said. "Other than this bite mark was there anything on any of the bodies that stands out?"

"He bit all of them, particularly around the breasts. I can tell you now, your suspect is still quite young."

"How can you tell?"

"It's usually girls that get their wisdom teeth in their late teens, early twenties. We know this perp is male, but he has one wisdom tooth at the bottom, and both of them at the top." Melinda pointed to the extra teeth.

"You're telling me the guy raping and killing these girls could be a teenager?"

"He could be."

My stomach dropped, I couldn't imagine someone so young having so much rage and anger inside them. I thanked Melinda for her help and gathered the evidence. I took out my phone to call Alex to ask for a lunch meeting, I explained almost the entire conversation with Melinda. We arranged to meet at one P.M. I was mentally checking off things on my to do list, Melinda had told me everything she could, Amanda was most likely sleeping, Fin and Munch were getting the last set of security footage, I was going to meet with Alex, and now to talk to Nick.

We decided to set up one of the conference rooms as our case base. Nick and I decorated the walls and evidence boards with photos and print outs.

"Are you scared?" Nick asked me.

"Of what?"

"Of this Pen Pal guy."

"What's there to be afraid of? He's just another pervert who likes to write notes."

"You've got balls of steel Liv."

That tickled me because externally I was cool, calm, collected, Badass Benson; but internally I felt like a very lost, very confused and worried little girl. We finished redecorating when I received a call, it was a blocked I.D. I answered the phone, as soon as I heard the voice on the end of the phone, I immediately put it on loud speaker, Nick ushered Cragen to the room. I held the phone out so we could all hear it.

"Please help me Olivia."

"Who's this? What's your name?" I asked calmly.

"My name's Sean. Please help me I'm scared." the voice on the end of the phone sounded like a teenager, well, through the tears and the hyperventilating.

"Sean, how did you get my number?" I asked, my phone had been taken out my hand and hooked up to a computer.

"I don't know I just dialled it. Please help me, I don't know how much time I have." Then the voice on the end of the phone changed after a long pause.

"Sean? Sean are you still there?" I asked.

All I could hear was heavy breathing, and what sounded like someone sniggering. "Sean can't come to the phone right now Olivia, and I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got bitch number six to pick."

"Wait!" the phone went dead. In between sighs of frustration you could still hear the dial tone where shock had frozen me to the spot I.

"Please tell me you got a location." Cragen said to Will who'd be trying to trace the call.

He shook his head in the negative, "Sorry guys."

"Sir, that's Pen Pal. I know it!" I was one hundred percent sure of it.

"How do you know?"

"In one of the notes it says I should expect '_bitch number six_'. He wants to play with me, he said I'm not playing fair and he's going to up the stakes; what if that means he's kidnapped a child?"

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><p><strong>AN: I know I have a lot of fanfictions in progress, but this one sort of came at me and I felt really drawn to the idea that you will see unfold in this story. I am writing my other stories still, and will be updating them. My life just seems to fly by when I'm actually not doing anything at all... But anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, please review if you have the time / enjoy it :) **


	2. Two Detectives

My heart was pumping, my blood was racing, I could feel my heart beat pounding in my ears. Pen Pal had kidnapped a child, and with only two bodies left to find, we were screwed! I was screwed! Pen Pal was my case, it was widely known across the press as a wave of horrific rape murders swept the city. I had the whole city holding their breath waiting for an answer, and it was one I didn't think I was going to be able to give them. I wanted nothing more than to stand of the steps of the court house and announce to New York that we had caught this sick bastard and he was safely behind bars, where he belonged! At this point, I pretty much had nothing.

"Olivia, we've traced the phone call." I heard Will the phone tech say.

"Where to?" I said with a sense of urgency.

"We've traced the call to the Imogen Price."

I took the name and headed straight to my computer, I typed in Imogen Price and did what I think might have been the fastest background check I've ever done. Cragen came to my desk, he knew I needed this lead. I think you could smell the desperation coming from me.

"Anything?" Cragen asked.

I was leaning over the chair reading the notes in front of me, "She was arrested in 2003 for possession of cannabis, three unpaid parking tickets, but nothing that suggests she's ever been involved in murder." I carried on reading, slipping round the side of my chair and getting my notepad out. "She's a single mother, her son, Sean Price was taken into child services custody when he was eight, he's now fifteen and living back with his mother in Washington Heights." Before the thought had formed in my mind, my jacket was in my hands and my legs were walking towards the elevator.

"Olivia, where're you going?" Rollins asked.

"Perfect timing." I said, "We've caught a break."

"Tell me about it." Amanda said spinning on her heals and heading towards the Crown Vic parked downstairs.

"A boy called me, he sounded frightened, he said his name was Sean." I managed as we left the One – Six. I opened the car door and got in, "He sounded like he was in his teens, we traced the call to a woman called Imogen Price, she's a single mother of a fifteen year old boy."

"Named Sean right?" Amanda said filling in the gaps for herself.

"Correct." I said, I watched Amanda put her belt on, then I put my foot on the gas, hard! I flicked on the blue and twos, blue and red lights temporarily decorated buildings as we raced through the busy streets. As we got out of the worst traffic I turned the lights and sirens off.

"What do you think this is? A kid scamming something he's seen on TV?" Amanda asked.

"I believed him, the voice on the end of the phone at the end of the conversation wasn't that kid. The voice was deeper, darker. It gave me the creeps! The fear was real." I said, I navigated around the streets of Washington Heights until we pulled up at a small, run down shack of a house.

I looked at Amanda in the car, "I don't think we're going to get very far." I said honestly.

"Might as well give it a shot!" Amanda said getting out of the car.

We walked up to the front door, it was metal and looked like it had been kicked in more than once. I knocked twice and the door creaked on it's hinges. It was bent and didn't close properly anymore.

"Police! Is anyone home?" I called out.

"I think I can hear crying." Amanda said.

"We can't pull that one, not after last time." I reminded her.

"No, I really can hear someone crying." she said.

I opened the door a little more, and then I heard it too. Whimpering sounds coming from inside.

"Police!" I called out again, with guns drawn, Amanda and I entered the house. We followed each other back and forth from room to room until we cleared the house. The whimpering had stopped, then just as I was about to suggest giving up, I heard it again.

I motioned to Amanda to move to the kitchen again, Amanda had her gun pointed at the long, narrow pantry door. I pulled it open and stuffed inside was a boy gagged and bound. His eyes shot to the gun, he was naked apart from the very old, once white underwear he was wearing. Amanda lowered her gun, I helped get the boy out the cupboard. I had learnt years ago to keep gloves and evidence bags on me at all times. I put the gloves on then removed the tape from the boys mouth. I bagged it and gave it to Amanda, I did the same with his hands and the tape that bound him.

He didn't thank me, he didn't say a word, he ran. We chased him to the garden where he was digging frantically with his hands in fresh soil. I didn't need to say anything, Amanda and I ran towards him at the same time, I pulled him, Amanda moved more of the soil. She stepped back and turned, I knew that look. I've seen it so many times over the years, she'd found a body. I was just praying that it wasn't body number six. As horrible as it is, I had to hope that this woman was collateral damage, Pen Pal tried to take the kid and she fought back.

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><p>It took me a while to get the boy out of the house, when Melinda had turned up along with the cavalry, I decided then and there, no child needs to see their mother being removed from a shallow grave.<p>

I had him put on a grey NYPD sweat shirt and matching grey sweat pants rolled up at the legs. We sat together in the soft interview room, he hadn't said a word, even though I'd tried a few times.

"Can you tell me your name?" I asked again.

The boy with sandy hair and grey eyes stared at me finally looking at me, "I'm Sean." he said clearly.

"Sean, did you call me earlier?" I asked him.

"I didn't mean anything I said in that phone call." he said coldly.

"O.K, well that's O.K. You sounded pretty scared." I didn't want to push, but I had a feeling Sean was clammed up.

"I watched my mom get murdered through the eyes of a killer." he said again still with the ice cold tone.

I took a minute to try and understand what he was saying, "Sean, I don't think I understand what you mean."

"No one does. No one understands, because they're not in here detective Benson!" Sean pointed to his head poking himself hard in the temple repeatedly.

"Sean, can you tell me what happened to your mom?" I asked still sitting.

Sean was walking around the soft interview room we used for children; "She was smoking, she always had a cup of English Rosy Lee with a joint. Then the next thing I know I'm waking up and there's blood everywhere. I can see the knife, it's glistening as the sun rays dance on the blade casting their dancing embers on the walls."

I felt confusion take over my brain. This kid was talking in riddles, and I didn't do riddles with out a fresh cup of coffee in my hands. I felt myself feeling annoyed and frustrated rather than sympathetic. Why was he using English rhyming cockney slang? I pulled my thoughts together; "Did you black out?" I asked still picturing his metaphor.

"I don't know." Sean sat back down, he looked me straight in the eyes, he was intense. I could feel the intensity coming from him, it was like watching someone on a high.

"Sean, you have to help me out here, you're the only witness we have to find your mom's killer." I said trying to reconnect.

"It's O.K, I know who did it detective."

I felt like I'd just been slapped in the face, "Who did it?"

"I can't tell you. It's on the tip of my tongue. It's that feeling, I know the name, I know the face, the name is floating around my head, only every time I try and catch it, it shoots to the other side of my brain. But I will catch it, and then I will tell you."

I nodded, "O.K Sean, you stay here for a minute, I need to talk to my Captain." I smiled and got up. I could feel Sean's eyes on me with the same intensity he'd had the entire time he was speaking. He was still leaning forward on the chair, eager and waiting for my return.

"Is this kid on something?" Cragen asked me.

"I think he should be on something Captain. I'm going to call Melissa and ask her to check the cupboards for medication in Sean's name." Melissa was our head of CSU, she's what I'd imagine a mom to be like. A nurturing mother type who gives warm hugs and makes big family feasts every sunday just to make her family happy and to have them all in one place again.

"What makes you think he's not on something to begin with Olivia? We've seen lots of kids who take drugs and hallucinate. What makes him different?"

"The call. He was scared, whatever this is, it's not the scared little boy who called me a couple hours ago. This is shock, or trauma. It's not natural I know that Captain, but just give me a chance to help him." I was almost pleading with my Captain, and I think he knew it. He knew I was grasping at straws for my case.

Amanda had listened to the conversation, "I can check medical records and school records, child services might be helpful."

Amanda always offered something helpful, I liked that she wasn't afraid to give her two cents. I looked back at Cragen who looked like he was convinced this was a bad idea, which meant one thing. I was talking to Sean for a while longer, and Amanda was going through untold records to find anything that might help us with our case.

"Ladies get to work." he motioned towards the door.

"Captain, I'd like Amanda to come in on this one."

Cragen nodded, and Rollins stepped into the interview room with me.

"Sean, this is my partner, Amanda."

Sean flicked his eyes up and down Amanda and smiled at her, his attentions quickly turned from me to her. "You have a pretty face."

"Thank you." Amanda said trying to hide how uncomfortable she was.

I sat back down, but this time, I let Amanda sit next to Sean. I leant in and asked, "Sean, does your mom give you any medications or vitamins on a regular basis?"

Sean nodded, after his crazy talk something seemed to break in his eyes, a sadness washed over him that almost drowned him. I had to remind him to breath after he'd slipped into a world of his own.

"I'm sorry detectives, I got a bit confused."

"It's O.K Sean." I said.

"I don't take medication." Sean's eyes filled with tears, "When I was little I watched my dad get shot, he was trying to clean up our streets and someone didn't like it. He was shot twenty two times in a drive by. Ever since then, if I see something that horrible, I retreat and this weird riddle version of me comes out. I saw someone about it, they said it was a defence mechanism and that as I get older I should grow out of it. I guess she lied." Sean couldn't or didn't make eye contact with me. He seemed nervous, shy, a lot more like the child I spoke to on the phone earlier.

"Sean is there anyone you can stay with?" Amanda asked.

"My mom was the only family I had left."

I was dying to call Melinda, I wanted to know if this self defence thing was real, but I didn't have the chance to call Melissa yet and with this tiny little movement in the case, it's snowballed in my brain, so many _what if's_, too many _why's_ and a whole load of _how the hell's. _It was going to be a long day, and night, and if I was lucky, one long day after that. One thing they never prepare you for in the academy, is the lack of sleep!

"Amanda can you stay with Sean for me, I'm going to make a couple calls."

I left the interview room and headed straight for my desk, I hit speed dial on my phone and called Melissa, she already had the answer to my question.

"No medication here Liv, sorry sweetie. Anything else I can help you with?" Melissa asked.

"Everything you find is worth keeping in this case. Anything you find is better than what I had before." I admitted.

"I'll do my best sweetie." Melissa hung up, and within seconds, Melinda was calling me.

"Benson."

"Olivia, what can you tell me about the body?"

I smiled, I loved it when Melinda asked me the question I must have asked her a thousand times over. "When we arrived on the scene we cleared the house, we found Sean in the pantry, he was gagged and bound, I gave them to Melissa. Sean ran into the garden when his hands were free, he started digging in the garden frantically. It's how we identified the body."

"O.K, now what can I do for you?"

"How did you know?" I asked rhetorically. "If you witness a trauma, can you form a defence mechanism, like a personality shield?"

"I'm not sure I know what you mean Olivia."

"Sean said he witnessed his dad being murdered, and since then when he sees something horrific, he retreats inside himself, and a very intense kid comes out who speaks in metaphors and riddles. It was like something switched inside him, when we mentioned his mom, he reverted back to a grieving child."

"It's possible, I know a lot of it is bravado in most cases. Usually, the person will crack under the pressure of lying to themselves."

I shook my head like Melinda could see me, "This was different, this wasn't like a kid putting on a front, something changed. It was like watching someone snap and break, then somehow revert back to normal."

"The best way I can describe it is, a defence mechanism where he literally becomes this character he has made up. He's created the metaphor and riddle side of him, maybe to look intelligent, he's alluding you with riddles."

"I don't think he did it. He doesn't have that much anger inside him. When I saw Super Sean, it was like he was alluding me so I couldn't get into his head. Like he was scared, but he wasn't going to let me know." I felt horrible. I had wanted to ask Melinda's opinion, then I went against most of it.

"It's possible Liv, I'm bringing Mrs. Price back to the morgue now."

"Thanks Melinda, call me after the autopsy, or..."

"Or if I find anything you should know about straight away." Melinda laughed and said goodbye, as did I. It felt good to smile, even if it was just for a second.

I went back to the interview room, "Sean, I'm going to make some calls so we can find somewhere for you to stay until we can find you a family." I hated telling kids we had to place them with a replacement family. It always felt wrong.

Amanda stood up, "Actually Liv, Sean and I have spoken and he's going to stay with me for a few days, for a sense of security."

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><p><strong>AN: Thank you for reading this chapter - I'm really enjoying writing this because I pretty much have the entire thing planned in my head, but I always go off course. However, I will have more time to update my stories now, this being the second update today (Writers Block has also been updated chapter 29) and over the course of this week I will be getting Kidnapped and Recovery back up and running! I love those stories, and I miss writing them. Thank you for reading xoxo**


	3. Three New Victims

Sean left with Amanda a few hours ago, I'm still not fully comfortable with it; but I can't stop her. I've done it before, so who I am to tell her my gut screams this kid is seriously confused and needs help?

I'd been at my desk for a while trying to force these pieces of a very messed up puzzle together. It was like a million piece puzzle and all the pieces are black. This case feels ultimately impossible and as time passes by, I'm sitting here just waiting for another victim hoping she can tell us something. I've never waited for a perp to hand me a victim. Never.

I thought about making a call to someone. Anyone who I might be able to talk to who could clear some haze from my brain, then I remembered something.

I dialled furiously, it was nearing one A.M and I knew Melissa would forgive me for calling when she'd most likely be sleeping.

A sleepy voice picked up the phone after five rings. "Hello."

"Mel, it's Olivia. Did I wake you?" I asked jittery. I had one question. That's all. How the hell I'd forgotten about it I have no idea.

"Liv darling what time is it?"

"Almost one." I said, I couldn't wait for Melissa to wake up.

"How can I help trouble?"

I smiled, Melissa was more like a mother to me than I acknowledged, or at least showed appreciation for. "Mel, did you find a cell phone at the scene?" I heard Mel sit up in bed, she was awake.

"No sweetheart, I don't think so. I'd have to check for sure, but I don't even remember there being a house phone."

"Thank you Mel! Sorry for waking you up! I owe you."

"Anytime Poppet. Night Liv, get some sleep!"

"Goodnight." I said hanging up the phone.

I sat for a second, my thought train had left the station without me on it. As the information sunk in, I started to see a clearer picture. This was wrong, very wrong. Why would the perp take the cell phone if it was registered to the victim? Pen Pal's motive wasn't robbery. It had NEVER been robbery. I picked up my phone and tried calling Amanda, it went straight to voice mail, seven times to be exact. I was just about to really panic, call Cragen and get the snipers out when Amanda called me back.

"Liv, is everything O.K?"

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm at Mercy General with Sean. We had an accident, but we're both O.K."

"Amanda I'm on my way. Don't leave." I grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair and fumbled to put the phone back on the receiver.

I took sharp corners like a pro as I hauled the Crown Vic around the streets of Manhattan. I had one lead, one of anything right now that wasn't one extra victim was good.

I pulled into Mercy General and parked up, Amanda was outside waiting for me. She almost ran to the car.

"Olivia what's going on?"

"Where's Sean?" I asked, then I saw her hands and wrists bandaged. "What happened?"

"Sean and I were cooking; he offered to drain the pasta, I said '_no, it's too hot'_. He just wanted to help Olivia, he didn't do this on purpose." Amanda seemed convinced and even though my gut said something was up with this kid, she didn't think so. I had to trust her.

"Where's Sean now? I need to ask him something."

"He's inside. Liv what's going on?"

"The cell phone he called me on is missing. It wasn't in the grave, he didn't have it when we found him and I called Mel, she said she didn't find it either." I explained.

"So the perp took it with him." Amanda said picking the obvious point to fill in the gaps.

"The phone was registered to Imogen Price." It's all I needed to say to convince Amanda, she was smart but protective.

Amanda lead the way to Sean's bed, and that's all we saw, his bed. No Sean. Amanda had become somewhat frantic already and was chasing down nursing staff. My eyes shot straight to the cameras, then my legs were taking me down through the back of the hospital. I was running down stairs two at a time; as I got to the bottom I burst through the exist doors to find nothing but dumpsters and a laundry truck.

I called Amanda from the street leading from Mercy General. The road was empty, dark and if someone was running, I'd have seen them.

Amanda met me back at the hospital entrance.

"No one saw him leave. Security is checking their cameras now."

I looked at Amanda and nodded, "Sean was our only lead in the Pen Pal case."

Amanda understood the pressure I was under as lead investigator on the case, "We'll find him, he's probably scared because he thinks he's going to get in trouble for burning me."

"Let me drive you home, get some sleep and we'll start again in the morning." I was exhausted, frustrated and now lead-less. Again.

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><p><em>I was back in the arms of my dreamy lover, feeling safe and free. I opened my eyes and nothing but a beautiful beach. We were waist deep in the ocean, it was warm. Tropical fish swam around our feet. It was perfect, and beautiful and I wish I never had to leave the arms of my dreamland lover. But a storm rolled over, the waves crashed harder against the sand, the water turned grey and as a huge wave crashed over me, I woke up.<em>

Brian had finally come home, he'd fallen into bed and dropped an arm over me as he cuddled into my back. I felt him snuggle himself into my hair, he mumbled something about being home and fell asleep.

It was nearing six anyway, so I got up. I showered and got dressed, planted a kiss on Brian's lips and headed out the front door. Cragen asked me to get him a suspect by yesterday evening. I'm a day late, and a suspect down. I went to Amanda's apartment and picked her up. Neither one of us had slept well that night.

We arrived at the One – Six and to both our surprise, Cragen was already there.

"Morning." he said.

Thank God he didn't say good morning, because I'd have just dumped a sack of crap all over it when I told him I'd found and lost my only lead in a day. It was a new record. A new low for me.

"What are you doing to find Sean?" he asked me setting me back a bit.

"We checked the security footage last night, we're going over it today." Amanda said.

"Find him." Cragen said heading to his office hearing the phone ring.

I went over to my desk, I was going to sit down when I saw a small envelope addressed to me. It was too early for post, and I'd been here till almost one this morning. Cragen got off the phone and I asked him if he'd seen anyone near my desk or delivering the envelope. The answer was no.

I opened the envelope and a jewellery box slipped out into my hand. I thought it must be something from Brian, we hadn't seen much of other lately and sometimes he did cute little thoughtful things like this.

When I opened it, I didn't see a beautiful necklace; I saw a perfectly presented, bow included, severed finger.

I called for Cragen and Amanda, inside the box there was a note pushed, forced to fit inside the lid of the box.

'_Olivia, _

_You may have foiled a potential victim, but I'll let you have Imogen for free. She was a worthless piece of crap anyway. _

_You found me a playmate, and you know how much I like to play. You know he didn't even flinch when I did this! I think I might have found myself a protege. _

_Fascinating isn't it? Your victim, becomes my apprentice! _

_Don't be too long finding Bitch number six Olivia, for every day you waste, I'll send another piece of Sean. Deal? Great._

_Lets play!_

_-PP.'_

The letter shook me more than the finger itself. I didn't have to wait for my sixth victim, she was waiting for me to find her. My heart sank, a lump rose in my throat. Sean had run from the hospital to stay out of trouble, and this had happened as a result. Pen Pal was sickening, he pushed buttons inside me I didn't even know I had. And now he was playing with another live victim. A child.

"The letter's longer. Before he sent notes." I said breaking the silence.

"Is it real?" Cragen asked taking the box off me with gloved hands.

I didn't need to answer the question, the finger was real and it had been taken off cleanly in one knife stroke.

"Where do we start looking for our next victim? He gave us nothing!" Amanda started. "We've got three more victims, and no more leads!"

"It's time to get one step ahead of this son ova bitch." I said. "I'm done playing catch up!"

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><p><strong>AN: Hello :') I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. **

**If you're reading and enjoying this story, please follow, favourite or review. Without feedback I can't progress, so please be constructive.**

**This story is something I'm going to have two main objectives. Firstly, the main storyline, (the obvious one); and secondly, my goal is to show Olivia's thought process. I want to delve into her mind and really show how strong and fiercely smart Olivia is. **

**How do you stay one step ahead of a serial killer when you're always five steps behind? **


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